Ghana News Agency

Friday 31st October, 2014

Dormaa – Ahenkro (B/A), Oct. 31, GNA – Five
thousand eight hundred and sixteen cocoa farmers in five districts have been
given fertilizers free of charge to help improve yields on their cocoa farms.
The districts are Dormaa Central, Jaman
South, Jaman North, Dormaa East and Dormaa West and parts of Berekum.
In an interview with the Ghana News
Agency(GNA) in Dormaa – Ahenkro, Mr. David Afri

Dormaa – Ahenkro (B/A), Oct. 31, GNA – Five
thousand eight hundred and sixteen cocoa farmers in five districts have been
given fertilizers free of charge to help improve yields on their cocoa farms.

The districts are Dormaa Central, Jaman
South, Jaman North, Dormaa East and Dormaa West and parts of Berekum.

In an interview with the Ghana News
Agency(GNA) in Dormaa – Ahenkro, Mr. David Afriyie Gyebi, Dormaa Municipal
Cocoa Officer, said out of the number 2, 475 cocoa farmers had been supplied
with more than 70,000 bags of granular fertilizers, whilst 3, 341 farmers had
received 25, 740 litres of liquid fertilizer – Litovit.

“Although 80 per cent to 85 per cent of
farmers have been covered we are still expecting more farmers,” he stated.

Some of the granular fertilizers given to
the farmers are Asase Wura, Cocoa Master, Cocoa Feed, Elite.

Mr. Afriyie Gyebi debunked the allegations
that farmers were supplied with fertilizers on the bases of their political
affiliation, saying, “These allegations are completely false, untrue, and there
are no forms of inducement to influence supply of fertilizers to farmers as
being peddled.”

“It’s the corruption in the system that has
created all such allegations to undermine our efforts and responsibility to
promote the interest of cocoa farmers.

“We do not collect anyone’s party identity
card, what we collect is your Voter Identity Card and the farmer’s pass book
before the fertilizers are given out. These are the two things we only
collect..,” he said.

He elucidated his outfit’s policy to ensure
that best farm practices were given to farmers to maximize profits and improve
their livelihoods.

The Municipal Cocoa Officer, however,
appealed to the government to provide adequate Global Positioning System (GPS),
an electronic device used in measuring farm size, which is in short supply, to
enhance the performance of their work.